


If this is Valhalla, where are the roads?

by Vanaheimr



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road
Genre: Canon deaths, Death is not described, F/M, Not Valhalla, Post-Canon, sheep go to heaven Nux goes to, this is just an afterlife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4170069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanaheimr/pseuds/Vanaheimr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Does Nux get to ride eternal, shiny and chrome, on the roads of Valhalla? Is he awaited?</p><p>Valhalla is not what he expected. </p><p>Who is that familiar face?</p>
            </blockquote>





	If this is Valhalla, where are the roads?

Nux twitched.

He wriggled a little bit.

The ground was softer than he was used to. Not soft like sand, soft like something else. He took a deep breath, there was no struggle to do so, no pain. He exhaled, and took another deep breath. There was a smell, not like dirt in his nostrils, not like motor oil, not guzzoline, not exhaust fumes, not chrome, not hot metal, not smoke, not burning rubber. There was a smell, it smelled like mud, and like the top of the Citadel that he remembered from the few times he had been up there. The smell, it smelled... Green. 

Reluctantly, he cracked his eyelids open a fraction. All he could see was green things. He closed his eyes, and wriggled on the green, getting comfortable, before drifting off to sleep again.

He twitched again, rolled over and sat up. Fully awake this time. He sat on green stuff, in shadow. He looked up, above was more green stuff, providing the shade. There was no dust in the air. The air was clean. And it wasn't dry, it wasn't trying to suck the moisture from each breath.

A sound caught his attention. A sound like aqua cola running over rocks. He followed the sound, and found that it was exactly like it sounded. Running through the green was a shallow stream of clear aqua cola, running over rocks. 

He drank. This tasted better than the aqua cola at the Citadel. Somehow, it was sweeter.

Slowly he became aware of other sounds. Chirps and whistles, caws and trills. All coming from the green above. And that green was attached to things like those in the bog. He tried to remember what Capable had called them... Tea? Tree? Those dead things. But these weren't dead looking. These looked like the things on top of the Citadel, only much bigger.

“Hello there, young man,” a voice startled him.

He turned to see who had spoken. Tuned too fast and nearly fell over. It was an old woman, with white hair. Not just any old woman, it was the keeper of the seeds... But she had died. She had died before he... 

His legs stopped working, and he sat hard, green stuff cushioning him.

Was this Valhalla? 

Capable had witnessed him, hadn't she?

“I died historic, on the fury road, didn't I? Is this Valhalla? Was I awaited? Where are the roads?” He was feeling very confused.

The old woman crouched before him.

“I only just got here myself. But, I think maybe you gave your life for a good cause. I think you sacrificed yourself, so those young women would have a better life. Now, I think we should go over there.” She pointed past his shoulder.

He turned his head, twisted his body around, to see a group of women, sitting beneath a... a tree? Thing.  
He followed the old woman. Trailing behind, uncertainly. Where were the roads? Where was the rumble of engines? Where was the chrome? 

“What's he doing here?” an angry voice asked. It was the Immortans favourite, the one they called Angharad, she held a bundle. Cradled in her arms, her child. 

“Oh, the poor boy,” said one of the older women, reaching out and wrapping her arms around Nux. 

“Poor Capable,” added the one they called the Valkyrie.

“What is this place?” Nux asked, untangling himself from the woman who was trying to soothe him. 

“It's not the Valhalla you were promised. This is another place, a green place, the eternal home of the many mothers, and all those we deem worthy to join us.” Said a tall woman, with light brown hair. There was something very familiar about her. 

“But why is he here?” spat Angharad, “he was one of Joe’s war boys, he shouldn't be here!”

“Angharad, I never met you in life, but I met your sisters, and this young man helped them, he helped them to find safety. He risked his life for them, he gave his life for them. Don't be so hard on him,” said the keeper of the seeds.

“I saw the way he looked at that red haired girl, he worshipped her,” added one of the other older women. 

The familiar looking woman smiled, and nodded. 

Time passed, and the group spoke more. Nux learned about the plants, and the grasses, and the trees. But the passage of time was immeasurable here. Sometimes it was day, sometimes it was night, and at other times there was a twilight, that seemed to last forever. The stream gave them water when they were thirsty, but hunger never bothered them. And Angharads baby never seemed to change. 

One day it was wriggling in her arms, and then it wasn't there at all.

“Oh! He's gone,” she whispered.

“He's been reborn,” said one of the older women, “one day, we all will be, if humanity survives.”

\----

Wondering through the trees one day, Nux found a woman laying on the grass. She was elderly, with long white hair. Though she slept still, he knelt beside her. To be there when she awoke, so that he could welcome her.

Her eyes fluttered open. 

He gave his best smile, and said, “welcome to the green place!”

Her eyes went wide, and she sat up, her hands reaching out to cup his face. “Nux?!”

“Capable! What happened to you? You look so old!” 

He reached out to touch her wrinkled cheek, as he did, his fingers brushed her hair, and the signs of time faded from her. She looked the same as when they had parted.

“Nux, I am old. Many years have passed since you rolled the rig to block the pass.”

“Capable? Is that you?” asked Angharad as she joined them.

The other women joined them, eager to hear the story of Capables life.

“Things changed a lot in the Citadel, with women in charge. While Furiosa healed... Is she here? I haven't seen her in such a long time.”

Angharad shook her head, “We've not seen her. Other women have arrived, girls too, and sometimes, though not often, men and boys. How did she die?”

Capable looked at her in wonder, “I don't know. She left the Citadel long ago, on her own. She was searching for something... or someone.”

She looked at Nux, and he smiled as best he could, not wanting to wonder about what had happened to Furiosa.

“Where was I? We returned to the Citadel, and us wives, and the milking mothers made many changes happen. It didn't take us long to have a lot of people helping to make life better for all. The first few months were a little lean for all, but it meant that some people were being better fed than they had been in their entire time at the Citadel.

“Within a few months, we had a lot more food growing, and by the end of the first year, even the base of the Citadel was green. Furiosa was our negotiator, she organised trade with other groups and settlements. From time to time, the Fool, the man named Max, would come with news from other parts of the wasteland. Sometimes he brought people with him, other times he brought things that we might find useful. It was a strange day indeed, when he arrived with a small heard of goats. 

“Every time he came, we begged him to stay, but he never remained for more than a few weeks. 

“It was about four years after the events of the Fury Road, when something within me changed. Up until then, life was busy. Planning, organising, planting, harvesting, trading. Working hard to give us all a better life. We had done it, but now I had more time to think, more time to remember.”

She reached out, and took Nux by the hand, and did the same with Angharad on the other side. 

“You were the ones I remembered. You were the ones I though about. You both would have loved the changes we had made. I began to feel sorry for myself, missing people who were no longer with us.”

She squeezed Nux's hand.

“We buried you in what became the orchard. A macadamia tree marks your grave.”

She looked at Angharad, “we were never able to find where Joe had buried you, but we planted a fig tree in your memory, in the centre of the open space of the Citadel. It grew, and grew, and has become an enormous tree. The Citadel market is held under its shade.”

“It wasn't until the next time that Max returned, that I realised what I needed to do, to fix my broken heart. I needed to invest myself in the living, in life itself, not continuing to wallow in the past, mourning the dead. I asked him for the gift of life. He refused, of course. I explained to him why I wanted this. I had no connection with anyone who could help me in this, but I needed a child. We had put so much effort into providing a safe place, I felt that I needed to contribute to the continuation of it. Again he refused. And soon, he left again. 

“He returned a few weeks later, with a small group of people. But he avoided me. At first. Then three days later, late at night, there was a tap at my door. It was Max. All he said was, “Ok.”

\----

Furiosas head snapped up, nearly head-butting Max. 

“You were the father?” She whispered.

“Mmmm,” more of a grunt than a hum, came the reply

“She never told me, YOU never told me!”

“Shhh,” he whispered, peeking past the tree they were hiding behind.

The group they were listening to were still focused on Capable, as she told her story.

\----

“Yes Nux, I had a baby, a little girl, I named her Apple. She was a happy, healthy child, she ran and played with the other children. Max returned a few years later, he greeted me with a nod, and then spent the rest of the day with the children. He never paid Apple any special attention, just treated her like all of the others. He did the same each time he returned, and the children loved him for it. Sometimes he brought things for them, toys of old, bits of coloured glass, worn smooth by their time in the shifting sands of the wasteland, bikes powered by people, not motors.”

–---

“I remember that,” whispered Furiosa, “You, with all those little children, climbing all over you.”

–---

“One day, he gave me a small bundle, just shoved it into my hand as we passed. It was tied with a blue ribbon, and inside were some seeds. They turned out to be apple seeds.”

–---

“You were the one who gave her those seeds?” She rested her head on his shoulder, “You are a strange man.”

“Mmmm,” he agreed.

“What are you two doing, hiding here?”

Furiosa nearly cracked her head on the tree behind her, her head snapped up so fast. Max froze in place, shielding her with his body, watching the group wonder out of earshot. 

Furiosa gave him a gentle nudge, letting him know that it was ok. They had spent a lot of time out in the wasteland, just the two of them, watching each others back. So much time spent, looking over each others shoulder. 

“Mama?” She whispered, and pushed past Max.

“My Furiosa! How long have you been here?”

“Oh, Mama, I've missed you,” she hugged the woman. 

“How did you die?” She stroked her daughters short hair.

“I never did. I'm still in the wasteland with Max.”

“Mmmm,” he grunted in agreement. 

“Oh,” the woman stared at Max, her confusion turned to understanding. “You're one of the last guardians. Furiosa is one too, and I never knew. Is Apple one?”

Max shrugged.

Furiosa spoke, “Apple is grown, and has children of her own. We were with Capable at the end, though, she didn't recognise us.”

“Time to go,” murmured Max, taking Furiosa by the hand. And they disappeared from the Green place.

\----

“You're Furiosa's mother?” Nux stared at the familiar woman, eyes wide in awe.

**Author's Note:**

> The apple seeds are a pun. A very bad pun.


End file.
